April 16, 2025 • 27 mins
Why does Santa get all the attention while the Easter Bunny barely gets noticed? This episode explores how our culture’s overemphasis on Christmas—and neglect of Easter—reveals a deeper spiritual imbalance. The resurrection is the foundation of our faith, yet Easter often gets reduced to egg hunts and candy. We’ll dive into why the empty tomb matters more than ever, and how we can celebrate Easter with the depth it truly deserves. What does the resurrection mean to you—not just once a year, but every day?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Grainger (00:03):
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas meat episodetime.
Let's get right into it, okay?
So the scripture of the week is1 Corinthians 15, 14.
So, chapter 15, verse 14.
And if Christ has not beenraised, our preaching is useless
(00:25):
, and so is your faith.
So, guys, go back, listen tothe SKO.
I spent a lot of time unpackingnot just that verse, but really
the first, like 19, 20 verses of1 Corinthians 15.
Because this week's a littlespecial.
Let's just face it, it's Easterweek.
If you're listening to this,when this comes out, easter is
on Sunday and I wanted to takesome time for this particular
(00:50):
episode to think about thedisparity between Christmas and
Easter and how it seems likeSanta Claus absolutely destroys
the Easter bunny.
It's terrible, but it's.
It's truthful, right.
It's just it's unbelievable howdisplaced those are.
(01:13):
Those types of holidays areright and it shouldn't be.
It shouldn't be.
It should be such a bigger deal.
Let's think about, for instance, like when does Christmas
actually start?
Like when does Christmasactually start?
I can tell you when it startsas soon as the trick-or-treating
is done.
As soon as thetrick-or-treating is done and
(01:36):
you got all your candy, that'swhen Christmas starts.
It's now November 1st, that'sit.
Now we have one Thursday inNovember where we don't think
about Christmas Thanksgiving Daybut outside of that it's all
about Christmas, it just is.
It's such a big deal, and thinkabout the money, like the money
(01:57):
we spend around the holidays,and it's unbelievable when you
start thinking about how muchmoney we put into certain areas
of our life.
So let's just take a check.
For instance, I want to look atsomething real quick.
Let's look at where peoplespend the most money when it
(02:19):
comes to holidays and what theyare to holidays and what they
are.
And obviously you have yourCyber Monday and things like
that, but let's look on holidaysjust in general.
And if we start looking at thatfellas, it tells us a lot of
interesting things.
First of all, it tells us wespend a lot of money online, a
(02:42):
lot of money online, a lot ofmoney online, and we're spending
that money online versus youknow these other types of
holidays, but Christmas for sureis hands down like the number
one.
Then you start seeing holidayslike Halloween.
You start seeing holidays likeValentine's Day, you start
(03:03):
seeing holidays like Mother'sDay Mother's Day is pretty high
up there.
Then you like Valentine's Day,you start seeing holidays like
Mother's Day Mother's Day ispretty high up there.
Then you have Father's Day andthen, usually, tracking behind
all that, you should get Easterand it just blows me away that
that's the case.
And then I started thinkingabout it just from a church
standpoint, just looking at ourchurch and other churches in
(03:28):
general.
Like, think about theactivities that lead up to a
Easter service.
For us, really, easter issunrise.
Like you have a sunrise serviceand that's it.
Now.
Compare that to what goes onfor Christmas.
Have a sunrise service andthat's it Now.
Compare that to what goes onfor Christmas For us.
With Christmas for our church,you start talking about it
(03:50):
months in advance because youhave good ministries.
You have backpacks andshoeboxes and all the stuff that
you need to do to get ready forChristmas.
Then you have to decorate thechurch.
You have to use special typesof services to decorate the
church.
Then you have your Christmasprogram.
For your Christmas program, youstart doing that right after
(04:11):
Halloween, start practicing foryour Christmas program for your
kids.
Then you have, like, we docookies and caroling and singing
and all that stuff on certainactivities.
Then you have that actualspecial event to actually
decorate the church officially,right to get into the Christmas
spirit.
You have all that stuff goingon.
Then lots of churches dospecial things for evangelism,
(04:32):
which is good.
You should do that, likethere's a church that's close to
us that does like a walkthrough Bethlehem.
They basically make a wholecity, you know, right there at
their church.
Then you know, for us we havelike a drive-through thing.
So, depending on your church,there's there's types of flavors
for that stuff, right.
So you have all that stuffgoing on.
Then you have your, yourservices leading up to christmas
(04:54):
and every service in decemberand I think it's a mandatory
checkbox, it has to be achristmas service because it's
just just the way it is right.
So you're working through thebook of luke, whatever it is,
working up to Christmas.
Then you have your ChristmasEve service.
You got to have that right.
And then sometimes you evenhave the churches that are
really out, far out there.
You have your Christmas Dayservices.
I say that jokingly, like it'scrazy to me that the busiest
(05:18):
what should be the busiest dayfor the church is the most
voided day period.
Like no one goes to church onChristmas Day.
We just don't, and to me that'skind of crazy.
So you got all those events andthen for Easter you have a
sunrise service and that's.
It Isn't that kind of odd.
It's almost like Easter is theredheaded stepchild of holidays.
(05:41):
Like it's crazy.
And when you start thinkingabout it it just doesn't have
that commercial sparkle, does it.
But the spiritual significanceof Easter is such a big deal and
we just read about it in 1Corinthians 15, for sure, and we
recognize.
Obviously, if we go back to ourChristmas, we read so much out
of Luke 2, where you have thearrival of the Savior, right,
(06:06):
but Easter is the fulfillment ofhis mission and maybe that's it
.
You know this is again justmore reflective, but the power
of the cross and theresurrection is such an
important concept for Christians, and that Easter being the
(06:30):
climax of that, that it can'tjust be a nice ending to the
story.
This is why the story matters.
Remember what Romans 5, 8 says.
But God demonstrates his ownlove for us.
While we were still sinners,christ died for us.
The cross is proof of God'slove and his justice.
It just is Right.
(06:52):
The mission of salvation wascompleted completely on the
cross.
For us, fellas, that is thevictory we have over death, the
promise we have over death, andthat's why the resurrection has
to be central to our faith andto our focus, because the
resurrection fully proves thatJesus was who he said he was,
(07:14):
because without that there's novictory.
Without that we're just likeeveryone else.
I don't know about you, but Ijust don't want to be like that,
because the early church, ifyou start looking about when
things really were taking off,they really didn't focus so much
on the arrival.
They put their emphasis on theresurrection.
(07:37):
Look, check out chapter verses3 and 4, 1 Corinthians 15.
For what I received, I pass onto you as of first importance
that Christ died for our sins,according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried and raised onthe third day, according to the
Scriptures.
Paul tells us right there.
What is first importance?
(07:58):
Above all else, it wasn't thathe was born, why that is
important, but of mostimportance is that he died for
our sins, according to thescriptures, that he was buried
and raised on the third day.
That's it.
The resurrection is the mostcrucial part of the gospel
(08:18):
message.
It is so powerful guys.
We can't miss that and it givesus new hope and new life.
And as believers, man, whatmore can we put our should, we
be putting our trust in?
And it's not aboutcommercialism, and it's made me
think why is like Easter notcommercialized Like?
Why is that nothing compared toChristmas?
(08:40):
You know, some of it, I thinktoo, is just like, straight up,
easter's dates always changingand we every year like, well,
okay, when is Easter this year?
Right, it's not the consistencyof December 25th, like we have
with Christmas.
But go deeper.
The whole idea and concept ofwhat we're celebrating at Easter
is a little bit different.
Right, instead of the birth anda new arrival, we're really
(09:03):
celebrating the sacrifice todeath and repentance and the
resurrection.
Right, and that's just adifferent level.
Right, it doesn't sell as well,let's just face it.
It's not as sexy, right?
No, we're talking about alittle baby Jesus, not Jesus
hanging on a cross.
Like it's pretty, that doesn'tmake good movies and things like
(09:27):
that.
Easter calls us for a deepreflection and for a response to
what Jesus did on the cross.
That doesn't really fit intothe mold of a consumer-driven
culture and we have to recognizethis fellas.
We have to recognize the attack.
If we're sticking with.
The day after Halloween is whenChristmas starts, and the day
(09:51):
after Valentine's Day, eastershould start for us.
We need some time to ramp thisthing up.
We won't be giving awaypresents, and that's a big part
of it too.
We like Christmas so much, ifwe're honest, because of the
presents we get.
We just do.
It's a self-glorifying in manyways holiday and the glory
(10:17):
should never be on us.
The glory has to be on Christ.
But the evil one, the way hedoes, he twists stuff.
Now, christmas is all aboutSanta Claus and presents and is
all about, you know, bunnies andeggs and like nothing against
bunnies and eggs.
They have pagan origins, butI'm not saying you shouldn't
(10:39):
have those.
There's things that you knowwhat.
Lean into it, have some funwith it, but recognize what the
holiday truly is all about.
That's about the risen Savior.
It's just, it's incredible.
But recognize what the holidaytruly is all about.
That's about the risen Savior,it's just, it's incredible.
So what we have to start doing,what we have to really start
thinking about, is we have tostart elevating Easter into our
faith, into our family life, andmaybe that means for the Easter
(11:03):
week for you maybe start doingsome of the things you know
praying together, have a littlefoot washing ceremony or a Good
Friday.
Spend some time on that GoodFriday and actually reflect on
that as a family and just startthinking about everything that
leads us up to that ResurrectionSunday, because that Sunday is
(11:27):
a time of celebration andworship and coming together at
the table and focusing on thatresurrection more than the egg
hunt.
Have the egg hunt, that's fine,but definitely focus on the
resurrection.
There's even things I've usedthis in the past before.
I think I've told this in theshow.
I can't remember Resurrectioneggs.
(11:48):
You can Google them.
Just go Google resurrectioneggs.
If you have kids, they're great.
It comes in just a littlecarton of 12.
And each one of those eggs hasa piece of the gospel story.
Basically, you work through thepieces and they're actually
like they open the egg andthere's a little cloth or a
little cross or whatever, alittle stone to represent the
(12:10):
tomb being rolled away and itjust walks you right through it.
If you're nervous aboutactually sharing the gospel,
what if I miss something Likethe resurrection eggs gives you
a story so you literally canjust read it with your kids, all
right.
So I don't know if we can evenfind the link for that anymore.
It's just the easiest thing foryou to do is just Google
resurrection eggs and see if youcan find them.
Okay, the easiest thing for youto do is just Google
resurrection eggs and see if youcan find them.
(12:30):
So those are great ways.
You have great ways to do that.
And then just recognize the factthat for this year this time of
year rather, but any time, butparticularly this time of year
the eternal perspective theeternal perspective Because the
resurrection is not just a coolstory we get to read the
(12:52):
resurrection means something forus.
That means we have access toeternal life with God.
That's not the end.
As believers, we get to livewith hope.
Whether you're on themountaintop and you are
(13:12):
absolutely crushing it, oryou're in the valley and you're
sliding and you don't knowwhat's coming next, we can place
our feet firmly planted on thepromises that God has given us,
and that's the hope we have.
That's the hope we have.
That's the hope we have.
We have victory.
(13:32):
We have victory, and thatshould lead us to have a state
of gratitude and joy that therest of the world just doesn't
have.
So I don't know.
John 11, 25 says I'm theresurrection and the life.
The one who believes in me willlive even though they die.
So you're going to go throughthe physical death but never
(13:56):
have to go through the spiritual, because we'll have that
eternal life with him.
And I just want to encourage youto make this time of year Again
.
This is a little bit of ashorter episode and that's fine,
but make this time of year moremeaningful.
Spend time with God, thinkabout the cross, think about the
(14:17):
resurrection.
I'd also encourage you thistime of year, if you have kids,
encourage them to invite otherkids with them to the services,
just so that they can hear thegospel being presented.
And, by the way, if you go to achurch that doesn't present the
gospel, particularly onResurrection Sunday, get out of
(14:38):
there.
Just get out of there, man.
Like, find another one.
Okay, but this is a greatchance for this time of year.
People are receptive and most ofthe time studies show if
they're invited by a friend,people are more receptive to
going to a church service.
Now, do they need a churchservice to be saved?
(15:00):
No, but perhaps in that churchservice, if they hear the gospel
and the Holy Spirit is moving.
That could be what moves them,that little inflection point
that gets them to turn to thelife of Christ.
Now are they going to do it onthe church service this Sunday,
resurrection Sunday, 2025?
(15:21):
I don't know.
If they don't don't getdiscouraged.
If they don't don't getdiscouraged Because maybe the
seed is planted this Sunday in2025.
But it takes some time for thatto develop and grow, and as
dudes, we just want stuff likeit's just time to harvest, bro,
let's harvest, let's harvest.
I'm like no, no, no, we need toslow down.
(15:42):
It's not always about theharvesting.
You got to do that planting.
And the Holy Spirit, his timingis perfect.
He's never early.
Very rarely is he on the sametype of speed that we are.
Let's just face it, guys.
We want stuff yesterday.
We just do spiritual thingstake longer.
So plan to see.
(16:03):
And then here's your second partof that challenge.
If you can't get someone to goto church, that's up to them.
You can still share the gospelor you can share what God's done
for you in your life.
Maybe you're not comfortable insharing the gospel directly.
I mean, I don't know what totell you, though.
Here's what I do know to betrue.
Here's how God has shown up forme.
(16:24):
And you start opening up asentence like that and get ready
because you got somebody'sattention.
Then why?
Because you're being thoughtful, you're being transparent,
right, you're being authentic.
And when you start doing that,start having that level of just
(16:44):
openness about what God's donein your life, people are drawn
to that they are Because thenyou're not hitting them across
the head with Romans 5.8 or John3.16 or whatever it is, acts
4.12.
You're not hitting them acrossthe head with those verses.
You're coming at it from apersonal standpoint and that
means so much Because we have aGod who wants to have a
(17:04):
relationship with us.
Just like when I teach, all thetime I bring up this analogy.
Like it would be terrible mymarriage would be absolutely
terrible if the only time Ispent with my wife were one to
two hours every Sunday, maybeeven every other Sunday for an
average church girl, right,right, if I spent.
If Sunday for the averagechurchgoer, right, right, if I
(17:25):
spent.
If that was the time I gave her, okay, babe, for that time, for
that hour to two hours period.
Like I'm all yours, I'm all in,I love you.
Never going to like.
Nothing else is going todistract me from you during that
two hours Now, outside of thatgirl.
You know your boy got to live.
I'm going to do my thing.
Right, how would our marriagebe?
(17:46):
It'd be a dumpster fire.
And you're like, well, chris,that's ridiculous.
Like wow.
I'm just telling you.
It's a great analogy Because somany of us live our Christian
faith that way, like when we'rein a church and we're all prayed
up and we're around ourChristian brothers and sisters,
like we got this one thing goingon.
But when we're outside of that,do what I want to do.
(18:09):
I'll just put that Bible, justfold that up, just put that over
here.
I don't need this right now.
I'm telling you, buddy, it'show stuff happens.
I mean, I know people who leavetheir Bibles in the church pew
so that their seat won't betaken the next Sunday, or leave
it in the truck on a dashboardso that they know.
You know what, when I get tochurch, I'll have my Bible with
me.
I'm like, bro, what are youdoing?
Problem is they don't touch itbetween them.
(18:29):
Like, what are you doing?
Like this is living andbreathing is God's word.
Why don't you want to spend asmuch time as you possibly can in
it.
If you want that relationshipwith him, the way you want your
relationship with your spouse,you better spend some time
together.
I talk to my wife as often as Ican, as much as I can.
I love spending time with her,I love holding her hand, I love
kissing her All this stuffbecause I want the relationship
(18:52):
for us to grow closer together.
And the same thing has to betrue with me and God Every day
and I'm talking about every day,bro, in the word, am I trying
to check some brownie points wegot?
No, that's ridiculous, becauseI genuinely want to know what
he's trying to show me.
I'm curious.
I want him to know me.
(19:13):
I'm not trying to hide anythingfrom him anymore.
I literally went on before Irecorded this and just had an
open prayer of repentance.
Some of the things I needed tolet go of God.
I'm just going to give it toyou.
Is that stuff easy?
Heck, no, it ain't easy.
None of this stuff is easy.
It's where many Christians getoff.
They think being a Christian iseasy.
It ain't about being easy.
No, good things are hard.
(19:34):
It is hard.
It's hard being a Christian,even when it's going to start
attacking you.
He's attacked our family,that's for sure.
And I don't expect the attackto stop.
If the attack stops, I'm goingto be a concern at some point,
because maybe at that point am Iwalking with the evil one, like
, if I never bump into the evilone, maybe I'm walking the same
(19:55):
way he's walking.
That scares the crap out of me.
So a certain level of pushbackis expected.
Now, do I like breaks from it?
Yeah, yeah, I do, I do.
I love those seasons when we'renot in a trial.
It's only three seasons we'reeither in one, coming out of one
, or we're getting ready to gointo one.
That's the three seasons oflife, boys.
(20:16):
So if you're not in a trialright now, praise the Lord,
hallelujah, but you better bepraying up.
If you're in a trial, I'm sorry, you gotta be praying up.
If you're coming out of one,hallelujah, give him the praise
right now for carrying youthrough that.
And it's cyclical, man, thatstuff happens just like that,
(20:39):
over and over and over.
And where we put our focus,where we put our focus, where we
put our intent, man, it changeseverything.
It changes everything.
So, as you kind of go, getcloser to this big celebration
Resurrection, sunday, easter,whatever you want to call it
right.
I just want to encourage you tojust draw closer to God.
(21:02):
Don't let it just be another onewhere you see how many peeps
you get to eat.
I get it.
Peeps are awesome.
Well, actually you're either inI love peeps camps or I hate
peeps camps.
I'm not sure which one you'rein.
My wife hates them.
I love them.
So you know it's a hard issuewith her.
You'll have to pray for her.
But you know I'm Don't let itjust be about that.
Enjoy those things.
It's okay.
Get you a few Cadbury eggs Okay, if that's your thing.
(21:24):
But don't let that be what thetime is all about.
Take some time and read throughthe Gospels.
Spend some time doing theScriptures together.
Just go to 1 Corinthians 15,like we went through this week
on the Lion Within Us, and justshare that with your kids.
Be intentional.
Be intentional.
The rest of the world is justgoing to fly by this thing, man.
It's just going to fly by.
(21:46):
It's just going to be anotherblip on the radar.
Okay, now we're moving on towhat comes next.
Probably Memorial Day orsomething right After Easter.
Then everybody starts thinkingabout that.
That's what's coming next.
It's too big a deal just towilly-nilly fly by.
So encourage yourself to slowdown, enjoy the season and
(22:06):
praise the Lord for theresurrection.
So the question of the week iswhat does the empty tomb mean to
you personally?
Again, you have to answer thisdirectly.
I can't answer this for you,but my prayer is that it means
something and that meaningsomething is going to drive you
to do something.
All right.
So look if you need help, ifyou need encouragement, head
over to thelinewithinus.
(22:28):
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It's pretty awesome.
We also have our Christianleader assessment.
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Guys, go check that out.
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It's the most popular Bible appin the world.
We have tons and tons ofstudies on the Bible app and you
(22:50):
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We usually go through about twoa month on the Bible app
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Just take part.
Let's just study the Bible.
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Go ahead and start it.
Either start your spiritualkickoff, experience the full
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Just keep on leashing the lionwithin.
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I don't know about you, but Iused to find Mondays really
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Slash ROAR to get your weeklyroar today.
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas meat episodetime.
Let's get right into it, okay?
So the scripture of the week is1 Corinthians 15, 14.
So, chapter 15, verse 14.
And if Christ has not beenraised, our preaching is useless
(00:25):
, and so is your faith.
So, guys, go back, listen tothe SKO.
I spent a lot of time unpackingnot just that verse, but really
the first, like 19, 20 verses of1 Corinthians 15.
Because this week's a littlespecial.
Let's just face it, it's Easterweek.
If you're listening to this,when this comes out, easter is
on Sunday and I wanted to takesome time for this particular
(00:50):
episode to think about thedisparity between Christmas and
Easter and how it seems likeSanta Claus absolutely destroys
the Easter bunny.
It's terrible, but it's.
It's truthful, right.
It's just it's unbelievable howdisplaced those are.
(01:13):
Those types of holidays areright and it shouldn't be.
It shouldn't be.
It should be such a bigger deal.
Let's think about, for instance, like when does Christmas
actually start?
Like when does Christmasactually start?
I can tell you when it startsas soon as the trick-or-treating
is done.
As soon as thetrick-or-treating is done and
(01:36):
you got all your candy, that'swhen Christmas starts.
It's now November 1st, that'sit.
Now we have one Thursday inNovember where we don't think
about Christmas Thanksgiving Daybut outside of that it's all
about Christmas, it just is.
It's such a big deal, and thinkabout the money, like the money
(01:57):
we spend around the holidays,and it's unbelievable when you
start thinking about how muchmoney we put into certain areas
of our life.
So let's just take a check.
For instance, I want to look atsomething real quick.
Let's look at where peoplespend the most money when it
(02:19):
comes to holidays and what theyare to holidays and what they
are.
And obviously you have yourCyber Monday and things like
that, but let's look on holidaysjust in general.
And if we start looking at thatfellas, it tells us a lot of
interesting things.
First of all, it tells us wespend a lot of money online, a
(02:42):
lot of money online, a lot ofmoney online, and we're spending
that money online versus youknow these other types of
holidays, but Christmas for sureis hands down like the number
one.
Then you start seeing holidayslike Halloween.
You start seeing holidays likeValentine's Day, you start
(03:03):
seeing holidays like Mother'sDay Mother's Day is pretty high
up there.
Then you like Valentine's Day,you start seeing holidays like
Mother's Day Mother's Day ispretty high up there.
Then you have Father's Day andthen, usually, tracking behind
all that, you should get Easterand it just blows me away that
that's the case.
And then I started thinkingabout it just from a church
standpoint, just looking at ourchurch and other churches in
(03:28):
general.
Like, think about theactivities that lead up to a
Easter service.
For us, really, easter issunrise.
Like you have a sunrise serviceand that's it.
Now.
Compare that to what goes onfor Christmas.
Have a sunrise service andthat's it Now.
Compare that to what goes onfor Christmas For us.
With Christmas for our church,you start talking about it
(03:50):
months in advance because youhave good ministries.
You have backpacks andshoeboxes and all the stuff that
you need to do to get ready forChristmas.
Then you have to decorate thechurch.
You have to use special typesof services to decorate the
church.
Then you have your Christmasprogram.
For your Christmas program, youstart doing that right after
(04:11):
Halloween, start practicing foryour Christmas program for your
kids.
Then you have, like, we docookies and caroling and singing
and all that stuff on certainactivities.
Then you have that actualspecial event to actually
decorate the church officially,right to get into the Christmas
spirit.
You have all that stuff goingon.
Then lots of churches dospecial things for evangelism,
(04:32):
which is good.
You should do that, likethere's a church that's close to
us that does like a walkthrough Bethlehem.
They basically make a wholecity, you know, right there at
their church.
Then you know, for us we havelike a drive-through thing.
So, depending on your church,there's there's types of flavors
for that stuff, right.
So you have all that stuffgoing on.
Then you have your, yourservices leading up to christmas
(04:54):
and every service in decemberand I think it's a mandatory
checkbox, it has to be achristmas service because it's
just just the way it is right.
So you're working through thebook of luke, whatever it is,
working up to Christmas.
Then you have your ChristmasEve service.
You got to have that right.
And then sometimes you evenhave the churches that are
really out, far out there.
You have your Christmas Dayservices.
I say that jokingly, like it'scrazy to me that the busiest
(05:18):
what should be the busiest dayfor the church is the most
voided day period.
Like no one goes to church onChristmas Day.
We just don't, and to me that'skind of crazy.
So you got all those events andthen for Easter you have a
sunrise service and that's.
It Isn't that kind of odd.
It's almost like Easter is theredheaded stepchild of holidays.
(05:41):
Like it's crazy.
And when you start thinkingabout it it just doesn't have
that commercial sparkle, does it.
But the spiritual significanceof Easter is such a big deal and
we just read about it in 1Corinthians 15, for sure, and we
recognize.
Obviously, if we go back to ourChristmas, we read so much out
of Luke 2, where you have thearrival of the Savior, right,
(06:06):
but Easter is the fulfillment ofhis mission and maybe that's it
.
You know this is again justmore reflective, but the power
of the cross and theresurrection is such an
important concept for Christians, and that Easter being the
(06:30):
climax of that, that it can'tjust be a nice ending to the
story.
This is why the story matters.
Remember what Romans 5, 8 says.
But God demonstrates his ownlove for us.
While we were still sinners,christ died for us.
The cross is proof of God'slove and his justice.
It just is Right.
(06:52):
The mission of salvation wascompleted completely on the
cross.
For us, fellas, that is thevictory we have over death, the
promise we have over death, andthat's why the resurrection has
to be central to our faith andto our focus, because the
resurrection fully proves thatJesus was who he said he was,
(07:14):
because without that there's novictory.
Without that we're just likeeveryone else.
I don't know about you, but Ijust don't want to be like that,
because the early church, ifyou start looking about when
things really were taking off,they really didn't focus so much
on the arrival.
They put their emphasis on theresurrection.
(07:37):
Look, check out chapter verses3 and 4, 1 Corinthians 15.
For what I received, I pass onto you as of first importance
that Christ died for our sins,according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried and raised onthe third day, according to the
Scriptures.
Paul tells us right there.
What is first importance?
(07:58):
Above all else, it wasn't thathe was born, why that is
important, but of mostimportance is that he died for
our sins, according to thescriptures, that he was buried
and raised on the third day.
That's it.
The resurrection is the mostcrucial part of the gospel
(08:18):
message.
It is so powerful guys.
We can't miss that and it givesus new hope and new life.
And as believers, man, whatmore can we put our should, we
be putting our trust in?
And it's not aboutcommercialism, and it's made me
think why is like Easter notcommercialized Like?
Why is that nothing compared toChristmas?
(08:40):
You know, some of it, I thinktoo, is just like, straight up,
easter's dates always changingand we every year like, well,
okay, when is Easter this year?
Right, it's not the consistencyof December 25th, like we have
with Christmas.
But go deeper.
The whole idea and concept ofwhat we're celebrating at Easter
is a little bit different.
Right, instead of the birth anda new arrival, we're really
(09:03):
celebrating the sacrifice todeath and repentance and the
resurrection.
Right, and that's just adifferent level.
Right, it doesn't sell as well,let's just face it.
It's not as sexy, right?
No, we're talking about alittle baby Jesus, not Jesus
hanging on a cross.
Like it's pretty, that doesn'tmake good movies and things like
(09:27):
that.
Easter calls us for a deepreflection and for a response to
what Jesus did on the cross.
That doesn't really fit intothe mold of a consumer-driven
culture and we have to recognizethis fellas.
We have to recognize the attack.
If we're sticking with.
The day after Halloween is whenChristmas starts, and the day
(09:51):
after Valentine's Day, eastershould start for us.
We need some time to ramp thisthing up.
We won't be giving awaypresents, and that's a big part
of it too.
We like Christmas so much, ifwe're honest, because of the
presents we get.
We just do.
It's a self-glorifying in manyways holiday and the glory
(10:17):
should never be on us.
The glory has to be on Christ.
But the evil one, the way hedoes, he twists stuff.
Now, christmas is all aboutSanta Claus and presents and is
all about, you know, bunnies andeggs and like nothing against
bunnies and eggs.
They have pagan origins, butI'm not saying you shouldn't
(10:39):
have those.
There's things that you knowwhat.
Lean into it, have some funwith it, but recognize what the
holiday truly is all about.
That's about the risen Savior.
It's just, it's incredible.
But recognize what the holidaytruly is all about.
That's about the risen Savior,it's just, it's incredible.
So what we have to start doing,what we have to really start
thinking about, is we have tostart elevating Easter into our
faith, into our family life, andmaybe that means for the Easter
(11:03):
week for you maybe start doingsome of the things you know
praying together, have a littlefoot washing ceremony or a Good
Friday.
Spend some time on that GoodFriday and actually reflect on
that as a family and just startthinking about everything that
leads us up to that ResurrectionSunday, because that Sunday is
(11:27):
a time of celebration andworship and coming together at
the table and focusing on thatresurrection more than the egg
hunt.
Have the egg hunt, that's fine,but definitely focus on the
resurrection.
There's even things I've usedthis in the past before.
I think I've told this in theshow.
I can't remember Resurrectioneggs.
(11:48):
You can Google them.
Just go Google resurrectioneggs.
If you have kids, they're great.
It comes in just a littlecarton of 12.
And each one of those eggs hasa piece of the gospel story.
Basically, you work through thepieces and they're actually
like they open the egg andthere's a little cloth or a
little cross or whatever, alittle stone to represent the
(12:10):
tomb being rolled away and itjust walks you right through it.
If you're nervous aboutactually sharing the gospel,
what if I miss something Likethe resurrection eggs gives you
a story so you literally canjust read it with your kids, all
right.
So I don't know if we can evenfind the link for that anymore.
It's just the easiest thing foryou to do is just Google
resurrection eggs and see if youcan find them.
Okay, the easiest thing for youto do is just Google
resurrection eggs and see if youcan find them.
(12:30):
So those are great ways.
You have great ways to do that.
And then just recognize the factthat for this year this time of
year rather, but any time, butparticularly this time of year
the eternal perspective theeternal perspective Because the
resurrection is not just a coolstory we get to read the
(12:52):
resurrection means something forus.
That means we have access toeternal life with God.
That's not the end.
As believers, we get to livewith hope.
Whether you're on themountaintop and you are
(13:12):
absolutely crushing it, oryou're in the valley and you're
sliding and you don't knowwhat's coming next, we can place
our feet firmly planted on thepromises that God has given us,
and that's the hope we have.
That's the hope we have.
That's the hope we have.
We have victory.
(13:32):
We have victory, and thatshould lead us to have a state
of gratitude and joy that therest of the world just doesn't
have.
So I don't know.
John 11, 25 says I'm theresurrection and the life.
The one who believes in me willlive even though they die.
So you're going to go throughthe physical death but never
(13:56):
have to go through the spiritual, because we'll have that
eternal life with him.
And I just want to encourage youto make this time of year Again
.
This is a little bit of ashorter episode and that's fine,
but make this time of year moremeaningful.
Spend time with God, thinkabout the cross, think about the
(14:17):
resurrection.
I'd also encourage you thistime of year, if you have kids,
encourage them to invite otherkids with them to the services,
just so that they can hear thegospel being presented.
And, by the way, if you go to achurch that doesn't present the
gospel, particularly onResurrection Sunday, get out of
(14:38):
there.
Just get out of there, man.
Like, find another one.
Okay, but this is a greatchance for this time of year.
People are receptive and most ofthe time studies show if
they're invited by a friend,people are more receptive to
going to a church service.
Now, do they need a churchservice to be saved?
(15:00):
No, but perhaps in that churchservice, if they hear the gospel
and the Holy Spirit is moving.
That could be what moves them,that little inflection point
that gets them to turn to thelife of Christ.
Now are they going to do it onthe church service this Sunday,
resurrection Sunday, 2025?
(15:21):
I don't know.
If they don't don't getdiscouraged.
If they don't don't getdiscouraged Because maybe the
seed is planted this Sunday in2025.
But it takes some time for thatto develop and grow, and as
dudes, we just want stuff likeit's just time to harvest, bro,
let's harvest, let's harvest.
I'm like no, no, no, we need toslow down.
(15:42):
It's not always about theharvesting.
You got to do that planting.
And the Holy Spirit, his timingis perfect.
He's never early.
Very rarely is he on the sametype of speed that we are.
Let's just face it, guys.
We want stuff yesterday.
We just do spiritual thingstake longer.
So plan to see.
(16:03):
And then here's your second partof that challenge.
If you can't get someone to goto church, that's up to them.
You can still share the gospelor you can share what God's done
for you in your life.
Maybe you're not comfortable insharing the gospel directly.
I mean, I don't know what totell you, though.
Here's what I do know to betrue.
Here's how God has shown up forme.
(16:24):
And you start opening up asentence like that and get ready
because you got somebody'sattention.
Then why?
Because you're being thoughtful, you're being transparent,
right, you're being authentic.
And when you start doing that,start having that level of just
(16:44):
openness about what God's donein your life, people are drawn
to that they are Because thenyou're not hitting them across
the head with Romans 5.8 or John3.16 or whatever it is, acts
4.12.
You're not hitting them acrossthe head with those verses.
You're coming at it from apersonal standpoint and that
means so much Because we have aGod who wants to have a
(17:04):
relationship with us.
Just like when I teach, all thetime I bring up this analogy.
Like it would be terrible mymarriage would be absolutely
terrible if the only time Ispent with my wife were one to
two hours every Sunday, maybeeven every other Sunday for an
average church girl, right,right, if I spent.
If Sunday for the averagechurchgoer, right, right, if I
(17:25):
spent.
If that was the time I gave her, okay, babe, for that time, for
that hour to two hours period.
Like I'm all yours, I'm all in,I love you.
Never going to like.
Nothing else is going todistract me from you during that
two hours Now, outside of thatgirl.
You know your boy got to live.
I'm going to do my thing.
Right, how would our marriagebe?
(17:46):
It'd be a dumpster fire.
And you're like, well, chris,that's ridiculous.
Like wow.
I'm just telling you.
It's a great analogy Because somany of us live our Christian
faith that way, like when we'rein a church and we're all prayed
up and we're around ourChristian brothers and sisters,
like we got this one thing goingon.
But when we're outside of that,do what I want to do.
(18:09):
I'll just put that Bible, justfold that up, just put that over
here.
I don't need this right now.
I'm telling you, buddy, it'show stuff happens.
I mean, I know people who leavetheir Bibles in the church pew
so that their seat won't betaken the next Sunday, or leave
it in the truck on a dashboardso that they know.
You know what, when I get tochurch, I'll have my Bible with
me.
I'm like, bro, what are youdoing?
Problem is they don't touch itbetween them.
(18:29):
Like, what are you doing?
Like this is living andbreathing is God's word.
Why don't you want to spend asmuch time as you possibly can in
it.
If you want that relationshipwith him, the way you want your
relationship with your spouse,you better spend some time
together.
I talk to my wife as often as Ican, as much as I can.
I love spending time with her,I love holding her hand, I love
kissing her All this stuffbecause I want the relationship
(18:52):
for us to grow closer together.
And the same thing has to betrue with me and God Every day
and I'm talking about every day,bro, in the word, am I trying
to check some brownie points wegot?
No, that's ridiculous, becauseI genuinely want to know what
he's trying to show me.
I'm curious.
I want him to know me.
(19:13):
I'm not trying to hide anythingfrom him anymore.
I literally went on before Irecorded this and just had an
open prayer of repentance.
Some of the things I needed tolet go of God.
I'm just going to give it toyou.
Is that stuff easy?
Heck, no, it ain't easy.
None of this stuff is easy.
It's where many Christians getoff.
They think being a Christian iseasy.
It ain't about being easy.
No, good things are hard.
(19:34):
It is hard.
It's hard being a Christian,even when it's going to start
attacking you.
He's attacked our family,that's for sure.
And I don't expect the attackto stop.
If the attack stops, I'm goingto be a concern at some point,
because maybe at that point am Iwalking with the evil one, like
, if I never bump into the evilone, maybe I'm walking the same
(19:55):
way he's walking.
That scares the crap out of me.
So a certain level of pushbackis expected.
Now, do I like breaks from it?
Yeah, yeah, I do, I do.
I love those seasons when we'renot in a trial.
It's only three seasons we'reeither in one, coming out of one
, or we're getting ready to gointo one.
That's the three seasons oflife, boys.
(20:16):
So if you're not in a trialright now, praise the Lord,
hallelujah, but you better bepraying up.
If you're in a trial, I'm sorry, you gotta be praying up.
If you're coming out of one,hallelujah, give him the praise
right now for carrying youthrough that.
And it's cyclical, man, thatstuff happens just like that,
(20:39):
over and over and over.
And where we put our focus,where we put our focus, where we
put our intent, man, it changeseverything.
It changes everything.
So, as you kind of go, getcloser to this big celebration
Resurrection, sunday, easter,whatever you want to call it
right.
I just want to encourage you tojust draw closer to God.
(21:02):
Don't let it just be another onewhere you see how many peeps
you get to eat.
I get it.
Peeps are awesome.
Well, actually you're either inI love peeps camps or I hate
peeps camps.
I'm not sure which one you'rein.
My wife hates them.
I love them.
So you know it's a hard issuewith her.
You'll have to pray for her.
But you know I'm Don't let itjust be about that.
Enjoy those things.
It's okay.
Get you a few Cadbury eggs Okay, if that's your thing.
(21:24):
But don't let that be what thetime is all about.
Take some time and read throughthe Gospels.
Spend some time doing theScriptures together.
Just go to 1 Corinthians 15,like we went through this week
on the Lion Within Us, and justshare that with your kids.
Be intentional.
Be intentional.
The rest of the world is justgoing to fly by this thing, man.
It's just going to fly by.
(21:46):
It's just going to be anotherblip on the radar.
Okay, now we're moving on towhat comes next.
Probably Memorial Day orsomething right After Easter.
Then everybody starts thinkingabout that.
That's what's coming next.
It's too big a deal just towilly-nilly fly by.
So encourage yourself to slowdown, enjoy the season and
(22:06):
praise the Lord for theresurrection.
So the question of the week iswhat does the empty tomb mean to
you personally?
Again, you have to answer thisdirectly.
I can't answer this for you,but my prayer is that it means
something and that meaningsomething is going to drive you
to do something.
All right.
So look if you need help, ifyou need encouragement, head
over to thelinewithinus.
(22:28):
Okay, so thelinewithinus, wehave our new weekly roar that's
out, comes out every Monday.
It's pretty awesome.
We also have our Christianleader assessment.
That's incredible.
Guys, go check that out.
It's free resources, free tools.
How about Bible studies, if youlike, using the YouVersion Bible
app?
It's the most popular Bible appin the world.
We have tons and tons ofstudies on the Bible app and you
(22:50):
can even connect with medirectly on the Bible app.
We usually go through about twoa month on the Bible app
directly, and then we would loveto just do that with you.
Just take part.
Let's just study the Bible.
Or check out thelinewithinus andreally encourage you guys to
lean into the community.
Go ahead and start it.
Either start your spiritualkickoff, experience the full
(23:13):
community or the summit.
Pick one, pick one.
We try to give you anopportunity to see for yourself
what it's all about.
But lean in.
If you don't have that personalboard of advisors right now
that are speaking into your lifelike all of us got yes, guys,
we got friends.
I'm talking this level deeperthe guys who are here.
(23:34):
They're going to hear you, butthen they're also going to
challenge you.
They're going to check you.
They're going to hold youaccountable.
They're going to equip you.
Come alongside you.
They're going to pray youaccountable.
They're going to equip you.
Come alongside you.
They're going to pray with you.
We don't have those types ofbros anymore.
It's just very, very rare.
We've built that with ourdiscipleship mastermind groups.
I'm telling you, fellas, it'sincredible what we're putting
(23:55):
together, the growth we've seenwith the guys that are there.
But it means getting off thesideline.
So the lion within that US.
Get started today.
Love to know what you thinkabout this episode.
I love to know about thespiritual kickoff, and so,
before as well, give me somefeedback.
Ok, fellas, love to get thatfeedback.
(24:16):
Give us a rating and review, ifyou.
If you don't mind, there, thathelps.
Just promote the show,subscribe to us on YouTube,
connect with us in manydifferent ways and guys, just
thank you so much.
So come back on Friday.
We'll have a good fun Fridayepisode for you as you go into
this celebration weekend.
All right, so get after it,have a great one.
Just keep on leashing the lionwithin.
(24:39):
I don't know about you, but Iused to find Mondays really
rough.
I don't know about you, but Iused to find Mondays really
rough.
I would find myself trying toreset for work, trying to get my
bearing on the family calendar,trying to find time for my own
spiritual growth and development, and often I found myself
overwhelmed or just flatlyignoring aspects of my life that
(25:00):
I know are meaningful to melife that I know are meaningful
to me.
What I learned was that if Ihad immediate access to
important and impactfulspiritual topics and reflections
to start my week well after theallure of a Sunday sermon has
passed, I would set my wholeweek up to be more meaningful
and for the opportunity to makea true impact.
(25:21):
If you think that getting such aboost would help your week to
get started on the right foot,we would love for you to sign up
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by the Lion Within Us Each week,will deliver a powerful
reflection and practical stepsto help you apply Scripture with
clarity and purpose, all beingrooted in light and truth.
(25:44):
So in just a few minutes, wehope to arm you with insights
for living out biblicalleadership with confidence and
strength, and maybe even have alittle extra bounce in your step
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If that sounds useful, headover to the lion within us.
Slash roar to sign up today.
That's the lion within dot us.
(26:07):
Slash ROAR to get your weeklyroar today.
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